The Third Christmas
by Kate Beckett's Golden Snitch
Summary: Clara and Danny's third Christmas together.


It's moments like these that she cherishes.

The sun's just beginning to rise, little rays peeking through the drawn blinds. If she was still asleep, the brightening of the room would have woken her.

But she's already awake.

She leans against Danny's chest, closing her eyes and letting her lips drift into a soft smile. It's a bit chilly, and she pulls the white duvet farther up her chest. He's awake too, and his fingers are gently running through her hair.

Sofia hasn't woken yet. Figures. The one day a year when nearly every child in the world wakes at the crack of dawn, and her daughter is still fast asleep.

Really, it's fine by her.

Danny adjusts next to her and presses a kiss to her temple.

"Happy Christmas." He says, and she turns to looks at him, keeping one hand against his chest.

"Happy Christmas." She replies, and then tenderly kisses his lips. He stops playing with her hair and moves his arm to rest around her shoulders. "This is lovely."

"I guess it's like a little gift for us." Her smile grows, and his does, as well. It's only their third Christmas together, remarkably. To Clara, it feels as though it's been decades.

Their first Christmas, they were madly, head over heels in love. They went for a walk through London on Christmas Eve, gazing at the lights and trees and displays. He surprises her with a gift, a necklace with a miniature golden star. He says he knows how much stars mean to her, and even if he doesn't love the Doctor, he loves her. He loves her more than anything else, more than anything in the entire universe.

Looking back on it, that was the moment when she knew that he was the one. Her one.

Their second Christmas wasn't as amazing. They'd found out only days before that Danny was being called back to the army for a four month tour in Afghanistan, and all she wanted to do was hold him and never ever let him go.

So they spend Christmas Eve in their flat, on a couch, television playing softly as back noise. She sits halfway on his lap, head leaning against his shoulder and arms wrapped around his neck. She doesn't sob, just sits there, silent tears raining onto her dressing gown. He holds her, cradles her like a baby while very slightly rocking back and forth.

Looking back on it, it's rather ironic, considering she, without knowing it, had been pregnant.

Already, this Christmas feels a million times better then last years, and she's so grateful.

She curls into his chest, and he tightens the hold around her shoulders. Cuddling in the morning is something that they very rarely even get two minutes of anymore, so she's embracing every second.

Then, simultaneously, they hear the whimpers coming from down the hall, which both of them know very well is a prelude to a full fledged breakdown. Danny smirks.

"Knew it was too good to last." He kisses her one last time, then pulls away and climbs out of the bed. "I'll get her."

"Thanks." She smiles, and she props herself up against the headboard, stretching her legs to their full length. The little fairy lights that they had strung around their room were twinkling in a muted white, and the little tree in the corner looked absolutely sweet with the little pile of presents beneath it.

She's always insisted on decorating every room of the flat, whether it be lights, a Father Christmas figurine, decorative pillows, or trees. He always laughs at her, saying that she's 'obsessed' with Christmas, and then helps her set everything up. But it looks so lovely at the end, even Danny admits it.

It's not even two minutes before Danny reappears at the doorway, a half-asleep baby leaning against his chest with her head on his shoulder. Her smile grows, and she sits up completely, leaning towards the nearly four month old. He kisses the top of her head and then sets her down less then a foot away from Clara, and she promptly pulls herself towards her mother. She hasn't quite learned to crawl yet, at least not consistently.

Clara reaches out and pulls her into her arms, and she smiles, placing one, tiny hand onto her collarbone.

"Happy Christmas, Sofia." Her daughter rests her head on her shoulder, and she begins to rub her back softly. "You don't even know what that means, do you? It's okay, darling. You'll learn soon enough."

Danny sits beside them, a look of almost delirious happiness written across his face. He's such a wonderful father to Sofia, almost always able to make her stop crying or start laughing. Not that she cries very much. Of course, whenever she wakes, she has a slight tantrum if no one comes and gets her. But other then that, Clara can count with her hands how many times her daughter has begun to cry.

Sofia yawns and nuzzles her head farther into her shoulder, and her hands move automatically to support her neck.

"She's going to go back to sleep." Clara whispers, and in response Danny leans forward and begin tickling their baby's chin oh-so-softly. Immediately, she opens her eyes and giggles again, eyes fixed on her father.

"You can't go to bed again!" His voice is light, higher pitched then normal. "Not when there's gifts from Santa to open!"

:-:-:-:-:

Sofia doesn't understand any of it, but it's alright.

She sits in her mums lap for most of the morning, letting Clara unwrap every gift and then looking at it, curiosity playing on her features. She's not even four months yet, still very, very young, so they don't expect her to get it.

It's only after they've assembled the new bouncy chair and placed her in it that she starts to get excited.

She waves her fists in the air and smiles a toothless smile, her little legs bending and stretching to make her bounce faster. Then she lets out a high pitched squeal of excitement, which makes Clara laugh.

It only takes her ten minutes to wear herself down, and then she's out, asleep in Danny's arms. He keeps having to adjust her pacifier, put it back into her mouth as softly as possible, and Clara's smiling at them.

"Sleeping through Christmas." She says, moving to sit next to them. They're on the floor, leaning against the couch. "Her first Christmas."

"But not her last." Danny replies, his fingers brushing along Sofia's cheek. "She'll have many, many more." Clara puts her head against his shoulder and closes her eyes. She feels his arm wrap around her shoulders, and her daughter's tiny feet soft against her arm.

"We're going to my dads tonight, yeah?" She half whispers, suddenly afraid of waking the baby.

"Yeah." Her eyes open, and she smiles at him. "And he's coming before then?"

"That's the plan." She responds, looking back down at Sofia. "Then again, when does he follow the plan?"

:-:-:-:-:

He shows up on time, a rare event that Clara's only experienced a handful of occasions.

They've been having a rather relaxing day, opening each other's gifts and watching Christmas movies. Sofia's been exceptionally good, drifting in and out of sleep snug in one of her parents arms.

She's awake now, using Danny like a chair and smiling as Clara tickles her underneath her chin.

Then there's a knock. Just one knock, but they both hear it and she's on her feet in a second, not caring that she's still in her pajamas or that she looks an utter mess.

She pulls the door open and he's there. He's really, actually there.

"Doctor." She breathes, and immediately pulls him into a tight hug. He resists, trying to pull back, which only makes her hold him closer.

"Why the hugging?" He exclaims when she finally pulls back. "I'll never understand why you humans feel the need to hug every time you see each other, it's ridiculous!" Then he pauses, eyes scanning her up and down in a way that would make her completely uncomfortable if she didn't know his intentions were pure. "You're not pregnant anymore."

"I'm not." Clara fights the urge to laugh at his sudden revelation. "You haven't been here in a while."

"Clearly." He looks rather stunned, obviously hadn't figured out the maths before he'd arrived. Then his face shifts to one of a more uncomfortable air. "Everything's...alright, Clara?" Her brow furrows, and she leans against the doorframe, crossing her arms.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't lose the baby, did you?" At this, she lets out a full laugh, as hard as she tries to stop it. "Clara?"

"No, no, of course not!" And she takes him by the hand, beginning to lead him towards the sitting room. "She's perfectly fine, Doctor. And I believe it's about time she met you."

His face changes as he sees her, and she lets go, moves over to Danny and takes Sofia. When she turns back to the Doctor, he's so in awe, eyes wide, as though he's never seen a baby before.

"This is Sofia." She says, propping her daughter so that she's supported by her shoulder. Soph's just looking at the new, curious man in front of her, one eyebrow lifted. And the Doctor just stares, reaching towards the little girl and putting a hand on her cheek. "She'll be four months in a couple of days."

"She's very small." She hears Danny laugh from behind her, and she can't help but smile either. "Unusually small, for her age. Do you think it's genetics?"

"Oi!" Clara exclaims, as his laughter rises a notch. "She was born a bit earlier than expected, so her size is due to that, not my gene pool."

"Touché." He reaches his arms out awkwardly. "May I?" And she passes Sofia to the Doctor, kissing her forehead softly. He forms an even awkwarder cradle to hold her and she steps back, parallel with Danny, placing a hand to her mouth to hide her smile. Sofia looks up at him, reaches a hand to touch his chin.

"Hello, Sofia." He enunciates every syllable of her name, and her little face breaks into a big, toothless, baby smile. "I'm the Doctor, and I expect we'll be seeing more of each other in the future." He offers her his hand, and she grabs his thumb, completely smitten.

"She loves you." Danny says, moving to stand next to Clara and crossing his arms. "It's like she's listening to everything you're saying."

"I do speak baby, P.E." She has to hold back another giggle as Danny's face moves through a dozen expressions at once, settling on indignation. "So she really is listening to everything that I'm saying." Then he breaks into a smile and looks up at the two, completely unaware that he's begun to rock her daughter very, very softly. "Look at you two. Parents, having a proper family Christmas. You've gone all domestic."

"I don't think I've been anything but." Danny replies, and she laughs, entwines her hand with his and rests her head on his shoulder. The Doctor moves towards them and very gently hands the baby back to her mother.

"Well, I'd hate to get in the way." He smiles at the two, and begins to move back towards the door, reaching into his coat and placing a small, wrapped gift onto the coffee table. "Happy Christmas."

"You'll come and visit, yeah?" He turns and smiles at Clara, who's suddenly become worried. "Just because we've got another life now doesn't mean we don't want to spend time with you."

"Clara, of course." He nods towards Sofia, who's begun to drift off again in Clara's arms. Too much excitement. "Someone'll need to show this one around the galaxy, and I doubt very much that P.E. is up to the task." And he opens the door, steps one foot out, and raises a hand to the three of them. "See you around."

Then he leaves, just like that, and Danny swivels to face her.

"So he did come on time?" She laughs again, before kissing him gently on the mouth.

"I'd better get her ready." She puts her hand under the drowsy girl's arm to adjust her so that they're chest to chest. "We should head over soon."

"Yeah." He puts a hand to her cheek, which makes her stomach flutter. "I'm so lucky to have you, Clara. Both you and Soph."

"I love you." She kisses him again, lingering on his lips just a touch longer than before.

"I love you too." He reaches and pulls their daughter into her arms. "Let me go get her ready. I know you like to take your time beautifying." She shoves him gently, but proceeds to move towards their room. She knows what he says is true.

And she so, so appreciates him understanding that, and volunteering to get Soph changed and ready.

She really loves him.

:-:-:-:-:

Sofia's first Christmas turns out to be quite the success.

She's wide awake for the most part, smiling and giggling in relatives arms and being the sweetest little girl that Clara's ever seen.

She may be a little biased.

Her dad probably spends the most time holding Soph. He's always wanted grand kids, has always been joking with her about how he was going to be in his nineties before she gave him a grandchild.

Now that Sofia was around, he takes every opportunity to play with her and cuddle her. He holds her for most of the evening, and Danny sits with his arm around Clara, and she leans into his chest, just embracing their moments together.

When they get home, little Sofia finally fully asleep in Danny's arms, she suddenly remembers the gift on the table from the Doctor.

It turns out to be one of those projectors, the ones they put in a baby's room that projects the stars. But he's changed this one, changed the little five point stars to a beautiful galaxy, with milky ways and stars and so many things that bring back waves of memories for Clara.

It's the sweetest gift she's ever received.

**AN: Once again, just some sweet little ideas that I'm putting into writing. I started writing this in December, meaning to post it on Christmas, and then I just lost interest. I came back to it a few days ago, and just decided to finish for fun. **

**PLEASE leave reviews, they make me so happy. **

**xoxo, **

**J**


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